Oil and water

[Maureen Allen]

Oil droplets floating in a dish of water.

Three flash units with diffusers, several sheets of colored foam for background.

Some stray bubbles were removed.

[Indranil Sircar]

wow... Maureen, fantastic creative idea! I could not have guessed these were oil droplets on water. Great use of light and love your framing. Outstanding work!

[John Chardine]

This is a very neat effect Maureen. Like Indranil, if you had not said how you did it I would never have guessed. I love the colours you chose but I can imagine quite different effects with a different palette. I'd be interest to know more about the techs- I assume this is a macro image. What lens did you use?

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Maureen;

Very creative and definitely OOTB, in fact IMHO, that's pushing the envelope to the max

Thanks for the opportunity to share your outstanding talent.

Gus

[Maureen Allen]

This is a very neat effect Maureen. Like Indranil, if you had not said how you did it I would never have guessed. I love the colours you chose but I can imagine quite different effects with a different palette. I'd be interest to know more about the techs- I assume this is a macro image. What lens did you use?

Techs:

Nikon D3s
Nikon 105mm macro lens
Manual mode, f/11, 1/200, ISO 200

The process:

A glass dish set atop a piece of glass supported by a frame about 14" above several sheets of colored foam. I used very cold water, and put a few drops of cooking oil in the dish. At first it was a disaster - the drops of oil all ganged up and became one giant drop of oil. So, I used a little dish soap to break the oil up a bit, waited for the concoction to settle some and tried again. I used three flash units with diffusers: 2 at about 8 o'clock and 1 at 4 o'clock. Flashes are set at 1/32. I have lots of images with various backgrounds and different sized droplets.

Post processing involved cropping, sharpening and removal of some stray air bubbles.

[Dennis Bishop]

I always enjoy your paint creations, but this is even better. Thanks for the how-to details. Your paint images and, now, this suggest a scientific/engineering background as well as a tremendous amount of creativity -- both applied very effectively.

[Jay Sheinfield]

Hey Maureen, Looks way cool. Great original thinking on this................I would never have guessed what it was.

[Brendan Dozier]

Love your creativity and experimentation, Maureen. Amazing what you created and the bold colors produced from color foam, oil & water. Like the graphic modern art look to comp.

[denise ippolito]

Maureen, I love this! Great OOTB thinking and I appreciate the how-to that you provided us. I bet you will be creating more... It reminds me of balloons and I could see this as a large print.

[Mitch Carucci]

Love the colors. The precision of the circles is amazing. Once again, you have created a visually exciting image, that also might have some interesting scientific aspects...(if I could only figure out what)

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Maureen, this looks like the beginning of a really cool series of oil and water creations...can't wait to see more. This one is fabulous!!!

[Maureen Allen]

Thanks for the comments, all

[Steve Adkins]

Maureen, this is great! Wonderful image and fantastic creativity! Thanks for sharing the "how to".

[Judy Howle]

It certainly is amazing to me, especially the way the colors came out, and very creative of you to come up with such a good technique. It would indeed make a great print or stock photo!